Secondary battery



3o tery.

UNTTEE STATES ii; i

ATENT Erich.

ARTHUR s. HIGKLEY, or MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, ASSIGNOR, BY MEsNEASSIGNMENTS, To THE ELECTRIC AMALGAM COMPANY on MAINE.

SECONDARY BATTERY.

SPECIPICATIGN forming part of Letters Patent No. 307,461, dated November41,1884.

I Application filed April 12, 1884. (No model.)

17!) all whom it may cancer/1 Be it known that I, ARTHUR SAMUEL H101:-LEY, of the city of Montreal, in the District of Montreal and Provinceof Quebec, Dominion 5 of Canada, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Secondary Batteries; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same. Mypresent invention relates to a further im- 10 provement on the secondarybattery for which I made application for Letters Patent of the UnitedStates on the 2d day of November, 1883, and has for its object toconstruct the battery in a simpler and less expensive form, [5 whileembodying all the advantages set forth in said former invention. Theimprovement also provides for an increased surface upon which theamalgam of mercury and sodium is formed within a small space, whilegreatly less-, 29 ening the internal resistance. My secondary battery asnow constructed is made up of an anode of broken carbon, a cathode ofmercury, a wire netting or its equivalent immersed in said mercury, andan electrolyte of chloride of 25 sodium; but for more completecomprehension of the invention reference must be had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure l is a plan View, partly broken away, and Fig.2 a longitudinal section, of mybat- Similar letters of referenceindicate like parts.

A represents the battery-coll, made of glass, porcelain, stone, orgranite ware or other suit- 5 able material of such shape as to give alarge flat surface for the elements to rest upon, the object being toinsure the greatest possible surface without taking up much room. Thiscell is provided with a suitable cover, B, and has 0 also an internalledge or projection, (I, about half-way between top and bottom, uponwhich rests a grating made of wood, cane, vulcanite,

or other non-conducting substance. Resting upon the bottom of the cellis a sheet ofi net 5 ting, D, (or its equivalent)preferablyoflgalvanized iron, and interlaced in this netting is the bare end ofthe negative wire n. This netting Dis covered by a body of mercury, E,which acts as the cathode of the battery.

On top of the grating O, I place pieces 01 broken carbon, F, and packthe same closely together, in order to insure perfect contact, and thisacts as the anode.

f is the positive pole, preferably a stick 01 carbon, which passes downthrough the carbon electrode F and forms contact therewith. To this poleis attached the positive wire 1). The electrolyte permeates the entirecell, and is 01 chloride of sodium in solution or as a paste, theformer, however, being preferred.

To charge my battery a current is brought in through the wire 19, and bydecomposing the electrolyte precipitates metallic sodium into themercury E, and an amalgam of so dium and mercury is formed upon thenetting D, which, by having a number of interstices, presents a verylarge surface, upon which said amalgam is held. In discharging, a rapidseparation of the sodium and mercury takes place, and as the sodiumassimilates itself with the oxygen in the elements with the greatestease and activity a high elcctro-motive force is given off through thewire a. This wire a. is bare where it passes thronghthe net-ting andmercury, but is heavily insulated where it meets the carbon andelectrolyte.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

In a secondary battery, the combination, with a suitable cell andline-connections, of the carbon electrode F, grating O, mercuryelectrode E, netting D, and an electrolyte, substantially as specified.

Signed at Boston, Massachusetts, this eighth (8th) day of April, 1884..

ARTHUR S. HIOKLEY.

\Vitnesses:

R. A. KELLoNn, WM. PoRTEoUs.

Ii ii KLEY v W. s. HILL.

(No Model.) 1 A. s. HI

SECONDARY BATTERY.

Patented Nov, 4

IN VENTDRS 1 UNITED STaTns PATENT Orrics.

ARTHUR S. HICKLEY, OF MONTREAL, QUEl-EEC, CA ADA, ANJ) "WARREN S.

HILL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS, BY MESN E ASSIGNMENTS TO THEELECTRIC AMALGAM COMPANY OF MAINE.

seconoalav BATTERY.

BPECIPEC'ATION forming first of Letters Patent No. 307,462, datedNovember 1-, 188%.

Application filed April 12, 1884.

To all 1071,0111 it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ARTHUR S. HICKLEY, of the city of Montreal, in theProv nce of Quebec, Canada, and \VARREN S. Hill, ot'the 5 city ofBoston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, one of theUnited States of America, have jointly invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Secondary Batteries; and we do hereby declare to thatthe following is a full,,clear, and exact description of the same.

Our invention relates to. secondary or stor age batteries, andparticularly to certain improvements upon the battery invented by ArthurS. Hickley, for which an application for Letters Patent was filedNovember 2, 1883, No. 110,675. r In the application referred to, theinvention was described and shown as consisting of an anode of carbon, acathode of mercury, an electrolyte of chloride ofsodiunnand]lll()-C0llncctions to a dynamoniaehine or a primary battery and to thelin-e conductor.

Our improvements upon this invention con sist in the novel constructionof the cell and the arrangement of the elements of the battery, wherebywe obtain a very large amount of surface contact, and consequently ahigh degree of clectro-motive force or energy.

The essential features of the battery are a suitable cell or case inwhich are contained a series of vessels or trays separated from eachother by stools, each containing a body of 11161" cury';a series ofcarbon-rods contained within 3 5 the cell, one of which rods isconnected to the wire leading to the generator; a filling of brokencarbon surrounding the mercury-receptacles and entering the spacesbetween them; wires leading from one of the mercury- 0 receptacles toanother throughout the series, and joined at the top to thelineconductor, and an electrolytic fluid composed of chloride of sodium.

The invention is illustrated. in, tllC-HCCOlll-r.

panying drawings, in which Figure l is a vertical sectional View of theentire battery. Fig. 2 is a broken plan view. Fig. 8 is a top View ofone of the mercury-trays,thc grating be-. ing broken away. Fig. 4 is aorossscctionof (No model.)

Fig. 3, the netting being removed; and Fig. 5

is a view of one of the supports for the Inereury-tray.

In the drawings, A represents the batterycell,1nade of stone,earthenware, or other suitable material. and provided with a suitablecover, I3. WVithin this cell is a series ofshallow trays or dishes, C,made preferably of the same material as the cell, and adapted to containa body of mercury, 1). Near the top of each tray rests a grating, E, ofwood or other similar material, upon which is mounted the stool orsupport F, Fig. 5. Each tray of the series rests upon one of thesestools, as shown, the effect being to separate the mercury-trays andleave a space between them. 6

G G are carbon-rods, which pass through the cover Band extend down alongthe side of the vessel. These rods are connected by similar horizontalrods, II II, and by a wire, I above the cover.

J is the wire leading from a d ynamo-inachine or primary battery, andconnected to the upper end of the carbon-rod (2-, which forms thepositive pole.

The space not occupied by the parts thus far described is filled withirregularly-broken pieces or blocks of carbon K, which-cute ."also thespace between the trays, but are kept from contact with the nnercnry bythe grating. This carbon filling also snrroulnls the carbonrods G H, andis in close contact with them.

The electrolytic fluid with which the cell is filled is preferablyasolution of sodium chloride,which permeates the mass of carbon, givinga very large surface of contact, as will be evident from the drawings.

The wires by which the current is discharged and each pair ofmercury-trays coupled to gether are shown at L. Each wire extends fromthe storage element in one tray to the go succeeding tray, and, alterpassing through the cover, are joined in aholder, M, and connected tothe lineconductor N, passing through the body of carbon upon one side,as shown in Fig. 2, and being, of course, strong- 5 1y insulated. Thetrays may, however, be connected directly by a single wire.

I prefer to place in the bottom of each. tray connected to this plate byinterlacing, as shown -tailed description.

in Fig. 3.

The operation of my device needs node- WVhen the electric current isintroduced, the electrolyte is decomposed and metallic sodiumprecipitated into each of the mercury-trays, where an amalgam ofsodiumand mercury is formed upon the netting, which possesses high qualitiesas a storage element, and the combined power of all the cells gives offa current of very high electromotive force. This large amount ofcontactsurface is obtained at no expense of space or room, as thearrangement of the trays in a series, one above the other, isexceedingly compact. It will be seen, too, that there is no waste roominthe cell, the entire space being l. The combination, in a secondarybattery, of a cell or chamber, a series of trays within such cell, eachcontaining a body of mercury, a filling of broken carbon, an electrolyteof alkaline metal in solution, and ,line connections, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combinatiomin asecondary battery, with the series ofmercury-receptacles having the gratings, of the filling of broken carbonand the electrolyte, substantially as described.

3. In a secondary battery, the combination of the mercury-trays, thegrating resting therein, the stools or supports for separating theelectrodes, the carbon filling, the electrolyte, and line connections,substantially as described. l

4. In a storage-battery, the combination,

with the cell A and with line-connections, of

the mercury-electrode, the carbon-rods G H, connected together withinthe cell, and a fill-- ing of broken carbon, substantially as described.

Signed at Boston, lllfassachusetts, this eighth (8th) day of April,1884.

ARTHUR S. HIGKLEY. YVARREN S. HILL.

Witnesses:

R. A. KELLOND, \VM. PoR'rEoUs.

